Dance with Me
by Mirus Infidus
Summary: So Hikaru doesn't make a fool of himself, Akira volunteers to teach him to dance. Oneshot. Fluff.


It was a particularly hot day in April, and in Hikaru's apartment, the heat was building. He and Akira, his long-time rival, were playing a game of Go, as they had been doing three or four times a week for the past two months. At first they had agreed to play each other regularly to grow stronger, but the two soon fell into a routine, and the games felt more like a pastime than training.

However, that didn't mean they were any less intense.

Hikaru placed his stone calmly on the goban. Taking in the stones and his possible courses of action, Akira bowed his head. "I have lost," he stated.

Breaking into a grin, Hikaru exclaimed, "All right!" and threw his fist into the air.

Akira rolled his eyes and said, "Every time you beat me, you act as if it's your greatest accomplishment."

Hikaru sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "I never really get over the excitement of playing a game with you, Touya. Besides, you get all happy when you win, too! You're just quiet about it, but I can tell. Ha ha, I read you like a book, Touya!" The other boy said nothing, but smiled lightly. Nodding in satisfaction, Hikaru changed the subject: "Man, I'm getting hungry. I'm going to go make a cup of ramen. You want some?"

"Sure, thanks," Akira said, putting away the stones they'd used.

"You want anything to drink?"

The first time Hikaru had proposed that question many weeks ago, Akira had asked for a cup of tea. Hikaru had given him a dumbfounded look that said, _"You really think I'm the type of person to own tea?"_ So, now, Akira shook his head.

"Okay." Hikaru stood and left the room, leaving Akira to clean up the game. Akira's smile grew a little when he thought of how the two were comfortable enough with each other to do things like this. After the game, there was no lasting tension, and they behaved as if the game had been played weeks ago, not minutes ago. Neither went out of his way to be overly courteous, but there was no longer any resentment between them. Akira didn't try to put a name on what they had become to each other; he felt as if acknowledging it would destroy it.

"Hey, there's chicken or shrimp! Which do you want?" Hikaru called from the kitchen.

Snapping back to the present, Akira called back, "Ah—chicken. Chicken!" With the stones all put away, he pushed the goban back into its place beneath Hikaru's desk. The owner of the board came back into the room a couple minutes later, carrying two cups of instant ramen and two cans of soda on a makeshift tray—in reality a cookie sheet.

"The heat's killer today," Hikaru commented, setting the tray down on the ground and leaning against the wall. "I know you said you didn't want anything to drink, but I thought you could use one to cool off. Especially after that game, right?" He tossed a can to Akira, who caught it frantically.

Tapping the top, he said, "Hey, be careful. I don't want this to explode in my face."

Hikaru laughed. "I don't think it shook _that_ much in the air. But your terrible catch might've done it." He popped his own can open, taking a drink.

Rolling his eyes, the other boy carefully opened his can. When he wasn't sprayed with soda, he took a drink, then set it down and picked up his cup of ramen. The boys muttered the dining formalities, and ate in a comfortable silence for a while.

Hikaru, naturally, was the first to break the silence. His mouth stuffed with noodles, he said, "Hard to believe Isumi-san's getting married, huh?" Akira nodded, too polite to speak with food in his mouth. Hikaru swallowed. "I don't think I'm ready."

Swallowing his food, Akira looked at Hikaru. "What do you mean, _you're _not ready? He's the one getting married."

"Yeah, I know. I mean, I don't think I'm ready for the wedding." Hikaru took a swig of his soda before continuing: "I've never actually been to a wedding."

Akira raised his eyebrows. Over his eighteen years of life, he'd been to numerous weddings, and found it odd that the boy never had. "Really? Are you serious?"

Leaning his head against the wall, Hikaru said, "Well, technically I've been to one, but I was only two or three, so it's not like I remember it."

Akira shrugged. "They're no big deal. I've been to plenty, and I can tell you that unless you play some part in the ceremony, you have nothing to worry about."

Hikaru fiddled with his chopsticks, swirling his remaining noodles into one large mass in his cup. "Yeah, well, it's not so much the ceremony I'm worried about."

"The reception, then?" Akira asked.

"Yeah. I mean..."

"Hm?" Akira was curious. He was pretty sure it was Waya who was supposed to give the toast, but perhaps Shindou had been asked to give a speech as well.

"Well, I don't really know how to dance," admitted Hikaru, slurping some of the broth from his ramen.

Akira started to chuckle, but stopped when he saw Hikaru's slightly red face shoot him a look, and put his fist up to his mouth to hide his smile. Hikaru finished off the broth, then started on the soda. "Um," murmured Akira, "is that why you're nervous?"

Turning the can upside down to try to get whatever liquid was left, Hikaru muttered, "Well, it's kind of something important to be able to do, right? At a wedding and stuff."

Looking down at his food and drink, then back up to Hikaru, Akira proposed, "If you want, I could teach you." Hikaru looked up, his expression a mixture of elation and bewilderment. "Just some basic things," he added quickly.

"That's more than I know now," sighed the other boy. Then he jumped to his feet and threw his arms out. "C'mon!"

To tell the truth, Akira was a little surprised that Hikaru had accepted. He thought the boy would probably crack a joke and dismiss the offer. He hadn't realized Hikaru was so serious—or desperate—about dancing.

His proposal had actually surprised himself. Why did he care if Shindou knew how to dance or not? Why had he offered to teach him? He could have just said that he didn't have to dance if he didn't want to, and then left the subject entirely by starting a conversation about Go—always an easy enough subject, although it tended to lead to fights between the two of them.

Putting his cup of ramen to the side and taking a drink of his soda, Akira stood. "All right. I guess, then—here." He took Hikaru's hand and placed it on his waist, both boys' faces turning slightly pink. "I've got to be the woman, otherwise you can't learn the man's part. So… right." He placed his hand on Hikaru's shoulder, taking the boy's other hand in his own. "Okay, that's how you position it. And then…um, do you have any music?"

"What kind of music?" asked Hikaru.

"Something slow or mellow," the other boy replied.

"Nope," Hikaru chirped.

"What kind of music do you have?"

"I don't have any music."

Akira shook his head, annoyed, but couldn't help smiling. "Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Hikaru shrugged, grinning. "Oh well, I can teach you without music I suppose."

"Great, 'cause I don't feel like singing," the pupil joked.

Smiling, the teacher replied, "That's probably for the best; I doubt any music they play will sound like a dying frog."

"Hey!"

The teacher cocked his head to the side, showing he was joking. "Anyway, there's not much to know here," he said, looking down at their feet.

"Oh! Right. Okay, show me, then," Hikaru said, also looking at their feet.

"Hm, basically it's just a few steps, and then you repeat them. Okay?"

Hikaru nodded. "Okay."

Akira took a step back. "Just do what I do." Hikaru nodded, also taking a step back. "No! If you do that, we'll just be walking away from each other! That's the opposite of what dancing is supposed to be," Akira shouted.

"Uh…sorry," muttered Hikaru, stepping back into his original position.

"Yeah. Look, you just need to follow my feet, okay?" Hikaru took a step towards his partner. "Wait! Agh, I'm the woman, so _you_ need to be doing this."

"I am doing it, though," Hikaru said, for all the world not knowing what the boy meant.

"No, no, you need to be leading," the teacher corrected.

"M-me?" the pupil stammered. "Heh, that's okay, I can be the woman. I'll just dance with a really macho girl."

Akira cut the boy a look that said, _"Enough of your whining,"_ and broke out of their embrace. "Here, just watch what I do, and then copy it, got it?"

"Ah, okay, I guess."

"Good." Akira placed his hand where his invisible partner's waist would be and held her invisible hand. He shuffled in a small orbit around Hikaru, his eyes intently studying every object in the room _but_ the other boy. "Slow enough for you?" he asked.

Hikaru's eyes darted up from the dancer's feet, and he said, "Hm? Oh, yeah, keep going."

"Do it with me," Akira ordered.

One finger pointed at himself and the other at Akira, Hikaru replied, "Me? With you? But aren't I supposed to lead?"

Akira shook his head exasperatedly. "I mean, copy what I'm doing, as I'm doing it."

"Oh! Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

Rolling his eyes, Akira said, "You were supposed to understand anyway." Hikaru mirrored his position and tried to follow his footsteps. "Don't keep looking at my feet, look at your own. Once you know the pattern, you don't need to think about it. If you're having trouble, try to match the sound of your steps to mine."

"Mm-hm." Hikaru stared at his feet, wondering how on earth this jumbled shuffling around the floor ever became a style of dance. Soon the simple pattern was stuck in his head, repeating itself without his having to remember it. Still, he looked at his feet, just to be safe.

"Stop looking at your feet," Akira said.

"But you just said to look at them!" Hikaru argued.

"Don't break the pattern!"

"Ah!" Hikaru quickly went back to matching the pattern with the motions of his feet.

"Look at your partner."

Hikaru glanced up at Akira, then remembered that his partner was the invisible girl whose hand he was holding, and looked straight ahead. "Are you sure this is right?" he asked nervously.

"I told you I'd just be teaching you the basics. You're the one who wanted me to teach you, remember?" Hikaru had to admit, he was slightly impressed with how naturally Akira could speak while dancing. Although that was probably because Hikaru himself was trying to think of two things at once—what to do and what to say—while the other boy was moving simply from muscle memory, much like picking up Go stones.

With his gaze focused straight ahead, Hikaru and Akira danced as near mirror-images of one another—if one didn't look at their feet, anyway. The light _paf_ of their steps became almost harmonic as they moved around the room.

Akira glanced down at his pupil's feet. He was still fumbling a bit, but at least he didn't look like he was trying to crush an infestation of ants. "Not all bad, Shindou," he commented. "Now, try it with a real partner."

"Huh?" Hikaru stopped moving to look at the boy who had just commanded him to… "Dance with you?"

Sticking out his hand, Akira said, "Most of the people you'll dance with will have real bodies."

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders and took the boy's hand. "Yeah, what good is knowing the steps if I can't use 'em right with a real partner?" He held his other hand awkwardly in midair.

"You're still practicing the leading part, so, um…" Akira trailed off.

"Ah! Right." Hikaru put his hand on his partner's waist, and the two tried to keep in step.

"Don't step on my feet!" Akira hissed.

"Sorry! You told me to look at my partner, though," Hikaru defended.

"Yeah, but if you step on them, you'll be looking at the empty air where they used to be after they storm away from you."

"Argh, so what am I supposed to do? Look at my feet, look at you, what?"

"Um…" Akira thought for a moment, and then said with finality: "This is where it all comes together. You need to keep the rhythm, be aware of your feet, and look at your partner. Oh, and more: you need to be aware of your partner's feet. Without looking down. And smile. Like you mean it." Hikaru had already been grinning, prompting Akira to add: "Although that probably won't be a problem for you."

Hikaru chuckled. "And what about you? You probably have to practice your little Mona Lisa smiles in the mirror for hours before a social engagement, huh? Ha ha, that how you end up looking like a little doll?"

Akira narrowed his eyes, but kept his mouth shut. He was both annoyed and flattered by Hikaru's (he convinced himself it was just a) joke. After a bit more practice, with Hikaru managing by some extraordinary mental power to control his body, the two slumped to the ground.

"Nice moves," Hikaru chuckled.

"Yourself. If you don't kick your partner in the shin or stare at your feet the whole time, I think you'll be fine. And if you can keep to music." Akira picked up his now-cold cup of ramen. Examining a noodle, he found that it wasn't yet slimy, meaning he had to either finish it quickly or let it go to waste. He took a bite.

Hikaru buried his face in his hands. "Man, dancing is hard."

"Some people do study it their whole lives. Like Go."

"I'd rather play a game for my whole life."

Akira shrugged; he didn't disagree. "Me, too. But sometimes, in this life we've chosen, things like this come up. It's not an entirely people-oriented path we're on, but the people who are here really are just that: people. And people can't be just one thing; we need to blend and merge with others."

Hikaru was quiet for a moment. "So, it's all Isumi-san's fault that I'm tired right now."

"How can you be tired?" Akira laughed. "I'm the one you were dragging hither and thither and who had to somehow keep some sort of control on things."

"I exerted more mental energy," Hikaru deadpanned. "Plus it's hot." He nudged his empty soda can and sighed. "I'm going to get another drink. You want me to put that in a cup with some ice for you?" he asked, motioning towards Akira's half-finished drink.

Shaking the can a little and seeing that he had a good amount left, Akira handed it to the other boy. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem."

* * *

><p>Hikaru came back with the drinks, handing one to the boy, and taking a sip of his before sitting down. "The only non-alcoholic thing they had was apple juice," he apologized.<p>

Akira waved his hand in dismissal. "It's okay." He brought the drink up to his mouth, but stopped before it met his lips. "And this is apple juice, right?" Hikaru snickered. "It'd better be, Shindou. I told you I get sick if I drink alcohol."

"Yeah, yeah, it's just juice," Hikaru laughed. "That's a nice suit you're wearing; I wouldn't want you to get sick all over it."

Eyeing the boy closely, Akira took a sip. It really was apple juice, and for that he was grateful. "Thanks," he said.

"You already said that."

"I did?"

"Yeah, when I went to get the drinks."

"Oh."

"You're so proper, Touya! C'mon, loosen up," Hikaru teased.

"Hey, I just forgot, okay?" Akira took a drink. "Besides, what's wrong with being grateful?"

Hikaru shrugged. "Nothing, I guess, but with me, yo—"

"Hey, guys!" a familiar voice called. Both Akira and Hikaru turned their heads, seeing Nase strutting towards them. "I see you've filled the posts of wallflowers for the evening. C'mon, let's celebrate! You did at least congratulate Isumi-san, right?"

"Of course I did!" Akira defended.

"Yeah, me, too. Right after he and his new wife had their dance," Hikaru added.

"Great, great, you guys haven't been complete disgraces as guests. But he invited you to celebrate, not sit here! Why don't you get up and dance?" Nase urged.

"What about you?" replied Hikaru. "Why aren't you dancing?"

Nase laughed sheepishly. "I did. Once. And then I started talking to Isumi's cousin over there…" she trailed off, nodding towards a young man standing at the edge of the dance floor with two other females—one much older, and one much younger. He noticed Nase's gesture and waved; she waved back. Turning back to her pals, she said, "His mom wanted to talk to him about something, so I came to see what's going on with you two. And I find you sitting here all boring like a couple of lumps on a log."

"Well, I'm not very good at dancing," Hikaru admitted.

"You don't have to be good," Nase laughed. "Look at him." She pointed towards some drunken relative getting his groove on out on the dance floor. "No skill, but no shame."

Smacking his face, Hikaru groaned, "I don't want people thinking I'm drunk! I haven't touched alcohol all night."

"Yeah, well—oh! It looks like he's done talking," Nase exclaimed, referring to Isumi's cousin. "Hey, sounds like a slow song's coming on. I'm going to ask him to dance; you should dance, too, Shindou," she said, nudging him. "Just find someone you like, and get on out there. As bad as you think you are, I bet everyone's going to be talking about that guy" –she looked at the drunk, who was now hula dancing—"not you." With a flick of her wrist as a wave goodbye, she sauntered back across the room to Isumi's cousin.

After she left, Hikaru and Akira sat swirling their drinks, an awkward silence having befallen them. Both had a question in mind, but neither felt bold enough to ask. Again, it was Hikaru who broke the silence: "Nase's right, isn't she?" Akira looked at Hikaru, but wasn't given time to answer. "Really, I don't care if I make a fool of myself. It'd be a shame not to dance, right? After having you teach me and all." He set his drink down, then said, determined, "All right. I will." Akira watched him stand up and look around the room. Trying to seem nonchalant, he took a sip of his apple juice. "Um," Hikaru murmured, "Touya…" Akira looked up. Hikaru's face was slightly pink, and his eyes were fixed on the purse someone had left on a nearby seat. Holding out his hand, Hikaru said, "Would you dance with me?"

Immediately Akira's skin turned to a shade matching Hikaru's. Putting his eyes back on his drink, he replied, "Shindou, there are lots of girls here that you can dan—"

"No," Hikaru interjected. "I want to dance with you." His resolution became firm, and he looked directly at the boy—no, now a man.

Glancing up, Akira smiled. He set his drink down and took Hikaru's hand, standing. "Sounds nice." Hand-in-hand, they walk onto the dance floor and took up the position they had practiced so many times on that hot day a month ago.

The music seemed to sway the air, and couples held each other sweetly, letting the music in the air move them. Looking at the other dancers, Akira said quietly, "We never practiced with music, but for this kind of song, it'd be more proper to be in a slightly different position." He moved closer to his partner and wrapped his arms around his waist. "Just do what I do," he murmured. Hikaru nodded slightly, slipping his free hand around his partner's waist. The two were now holding each other close, but, surprisingly, they both felt that they were exactly where they should be.

Why did Akira help Hikaru dance? Why didn't he just change the subject when Hikaru brought it up? Somewhere in the back of Akira's mind, he still held these questions; but out there on the dance floor with his long-time rival, he thought he was finding the answer.

Fin.

**Author's note- Fun fact: I don't know how to dance myself, so I had to look up videos of people dancing just to know how to properly describe teaching it. (Although it'd be a lot nicer if Akira would teach me ****‿****Hikaru, you lucky dog.) And still, I don't think I really did a proper job.**

**Isumi-san! So young, and already getting married XD**

**Don't chop off my fingers for having somehow screwed up some cultural aspect of the wedding ^^; The willing suspension of disbelief, who said that? Someone wise.**


End file.
